From: Speed o Rex
USA: NCAA Basketball play heated up the day with: Butler Bulldogs at Georgetown Hoyas. Butler won both meetings last season. The Bulldogs started the season strong thanks to the play of forward Kelan Martin. The Hoyas count on big guards Rodney Pryor and L.J. Peak for their scoring. TCU at West Virginia. WV was 3-0 against the Horned Frogs last season. Clemson will visit Notre Dame in ACC play.
Meanwhile, in Big 10 action, Michigan State Spartains faceed Penn State Nittany Lions at The Palestra in Philadelphia. The Lions were 0-7 in the series under Patrick Chambers. The Maryland Terrapins visted the Michigan Wolverines in Big Ten action. Zak Irvin's 22 points led the Wolverines past visiting Maryland 70-67 last season, with the Terps taking the rematch, 86-82. The Fighting Illini of Illinois visted Bloomington, to take on the Indiana Hoosiers at home. Illini senior combo of Malcolm Hill and Tracy Abrams took on Indiana juniors James Blackmon and Josh Newkirk. The Hoosiers beat the Illini convincingly in both meetings last season.
PGA Tour Golf: The SBS Tournament of Champions featured third-round play in Kapalua, Hawaii. The field for this event is limited to winners of PGA tournaments during the 2016 season, so the competition should have been fierce. The purse is $6 million.
The NFL Playoffs began this weekend, leading to the February 8th Super Bowl. The first contest featured the Oakland Raiders at the Houston Texans. Oakland (12-4) met Houston (9-7) in an AFC wild-card game. The Raiders won the Week 11 meeting in Mexico City, 27-20, on a fourth-quarter comeback. In the NFC wild-card game, The Detroit Lions (9-7) visited the Seattle Seahawks (10-5-1). Quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Lions were on a three-game losing streak as they bid for the franchise's first playoff win in 25 years and second since capturing the 1957 National Football Conference title.
In Mexico, La Liga MX begins their 2017 season today of FĂștbol Mexicano: Tigres took on the Santos, Guadalajara meeting UNAM
In Spain: On Saturday afternoon, La Liga returned to action at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium for the first match of 2017, as struggling Granada visited Real Madrid, who lead the standings. The hosts defeated Sevilla 3-0 on Wednesday night. Zidane's strategy was to start the game with none of the starters, and the tactic seems to have worked. Eibar also meets Atletico de Madrid this afternoon.
In Germany, in the Bundesliga: SC Freiburg met Bayern Munich this evening. As Serie A play resumed in Italy, Naples took on Sampdoria and Empoli took on Palermo.
In international cricket: Australia won decisively over Pakistan in their 3rd Test in Sydney, with Josh Hazlewood striking convincingly as the 5th day began, returning to claim the final wicket just before the tea break. Australia has dominated Pakistan at home since 1999, now claiming 12 straight victories. In this third test, Australia won by 220 runs, 538/8d & 241/2d with Pakistan scoring 315 & 244 (80.2 ov)
